One of the reasons I love India is availability of manpower here. You get your Laundry wala, you get your cook, you get your maid,you get some one to deep clean your house. If you earn you can very well burn your money to get things done. Though several parts of India are now feeling the gap between the demand and the supply. The segment who used to do the needful stuff are either educated enough to do more brainy work or simply do not want to work while enjoying different perks under quotas available. And so slowly but surely, big cities are moving towards Do-Your-Own stuff.
We have been suffering the aftershock of suddenly loosing our maid and the cook together for no-idea-how-many-months. Generally I manage like we used to in Singapore or while living alone in different cities of India. Now blame it on the hectic schedule or a new household with five people living under one roof and each one of us having career to manage. Yes,mummy becomes the first victim as she would generally manage the maid and cook department but now when none are available- three females of the family struggle! Okay I do not count mummy in the active member but then it happens that she has to go to a lot of things because me and my SIL would have office to tackle.
Mornings are the most stressful.Making Dal-Sabji-Roti-Salad along with breakfast and then preparing tiffin for two. Having tea and the hot breakfast, taking bath and getting ready. Things are not easy even when we are three people to cook (Help from Mr.ISB is a dream as of now) After cooking, replacement maid comes to clean the house but she does half of the things and washing clothes in the machine along with drying them up is left anyway for us. Today in the morning when I was rushing to the office after all the work done, sweating hard I realized how we have become slaves of the outside help.
I have lived in Singapore and we four girls had managed to cook,clean and laugh.In Pune some how thanks to Mr.ISB's help used to save my evenings and my Singapore habits did not make me go insane or exhausted every single time. Of course managing a family is no easy deal from any stretch of my imagination but the joy of being extra independent is something I'm missing.More over I have seen my mother,masis, buas, MIL and other females cribbing about the sudden vacations by maids -to some extent I've become the same. Even when maids come, co-coordinating our schedules with theirs become too stressful,many reschedule their plans just to avail there services or get under the panic mode if they cannot.
Days are not too far when we would be equipped with mops and vacuum cleaners every week, cleaning laundry on our own, drying them up, ironing them all. With each passing day I feel,I'm spoiling myself and later on would not be able to manage if things would fall on my shoulders.
And so I've decided to slowly do my own stuff.
1.In future buy a small vacuum cleaner to clean curtains, get rid of dust particles from all possible surfaces, book shelves in a breeze. My allergy can be controlled as well if I really use it.
2.Drying up and folding clothes on my own.
3.Asking every single person of the house to undergo a small cleaning drive every day for ten minutes.I'm sure, no one would mind cleaning their own home for ten minutes.
4.Washing bathrooms/toilets every day on my own. So many kids are not habitual of seeing this work as an important thing to do for hygiene. I'm sure my kid/kids/others'kids would learn something while watching me cleaning washrooms.
5.Discarding all the old and waste stuff which never got used. No things, no maintenance.
6. Like I have been doing since days, cleaning each glass and gadget furniture with a glass cleaner in the morning. This every day habit would not let me be totally dependent on maids.
7. Try to cook for five people once in a while.
8. Washing utensils and making them squeaky clean faster than average time taken by others ,comes to me naturally. I would maintain the habit.
9. I won't go mad chasing above goals.
Some times I envy people in US of A/Singapore. Doing their own stuff smartly, as a family with a weekly help.Life can be too independent!
We have been suffering the aftershock of suddenly loosing our maid and the cook together for no-idea-how-many-months. Generally I manage like we used to in Singapore or while living alone in different cities of India. Now blame it on the hectic schedule or a new household with five people living under one roof and each one of us having career to manage. Yes,mummy becomes the first victim as she would generally manage the maid and cook department but now when none are available- three females of the family struggle! Okay I do not count mummy in the active member but then it happens that she has to go to a lot of things because me and my SIL would have office to tackle.
Mornings are the most stressful.Making Dal-Sabji-Roti-Salad along with breakfast and then preparing tiffin for two. Having tea and the hot breakfast, taking bath and getting ready. Things are not easy even when we are three people to cook (Help from Mr.ISB is a dream as of now) After cooking, replacement maid comes to clean the house but she does half of the things and washing clothes in the machine along with drying them up is left anyway for us. Today in the morning when I was rushing to the office after all the work done, sweating hard I realized how we have become slaves of the outside help.
I have lived in Singapore and we four girls had managed to cook,clean and laugh.In Pune some how thanks to Mr.ISB's help used to save my evenings and my Singapore habits did not make me go insane or exhausted every single time. Of course managing a family is no easy deal from any stretch of my imagination but the joy of being extra independent is something I'm missing.More over I have seen my mother,masis, buas, MIL and other females cribbing about the sudden vacations by maids -to some extent I've become the same. Even when maids come, co-coordinating our schedules with theirs become too stressful,many reschedule their plans just to avail there services or get under the panic mode if they cannot.
Days are not too far when we would be equipped with mops and vacuum cleaners every week, cleaning laundry on our own, drying them up, ironing them all. With each passing day I feel,I'm spoiling myself and later on would not be able to manage if things would fall on my shoulders.
And so I've decided to slowly do my own stuff.
1.In future buy a small vacuum cleaner to clean curtains, get rid of dust particles from all possible surfaces, book shelves in a breeze. My allergy can be controlled as well if I really use it.
2.Drying up and folding clothes on my own.
3.Asking every single person of the house to undergo a small cleaning drive every day for ten minutes.I'm sure, no one would mind cleaning their own home for ten minutes.
4.Washing bathrooms/toilets every day on my own. So many kids are not habitual of seeing this work as an important thing to do for hygiene. I'm sure my kid/kids/others'kids would learn something while watching me cleaning washrooms.
5.Discarding all the old and waste stuff which never got used. No things, no maintenance.
6. Like I have been doing since days, cleaning each glass and gadget furniture with a glass cleaner in the morning. This every day habit would not let me be totally dependent on maids.
7. Try to cook for five people once in a while.
8. Washing utensils and making them squeaky clean faster than average time taken by others ,comes to me naturally. I would maintain the habit.
9. I won't go mad chasing above goals.
Some times I envy people in US of A/Singapore. Doing their own stuff smartly, as a family with a weekly help.Life can be too independent!
Our maid is very particular and does only the below said tasks:
ReplyDeleteWashing vessels, sweeping, mopping, clean the small verandah outside and a rangoli near the gate.
Apart from this everything is done by us at home..
When she goes on planned leave, utensils are taken care of, since we wash as and when we use and its sparkling clean.. Sweeping - On some weekdays if I have time I will do. Dusting is always done alternate evenings and weekends..
Initially I used to go crazy if thins were not spotless.. now I have let go.. On some days if our house is not spotless its still ok, as long as it doesn't look shabby...
thanks for shared.. nice article..
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